Surgical dressing.



NITED `STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IRENE REID, 0F FRAMINGHAM, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO THE PEOPLE 0F THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

SURGICAL DRESSING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 5, 1918.

To all whom zt may concern.'

Be it known that I, IRENE REID, a citizen of the United States of America, and resident of Framingham, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Surgical Dressings, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to surgical dressings and has for its object a dressing which is soft and yielding, which is highly absorbent, which can be quickly and cheaply manufactured and which is generally superior for dressing certain classes of injured or diseased parts.`

In general the invention consists in a pad of absorbent paper or other bibulous material partially or wholly incased in a cover of reticulate material. For certain classes of dressing the paper may be in the form of scraps, in which case the cover should wholly inclose the aper, but for other classes of treatment t e paper is preferably in the form of a plurality of superposed sheets, in which case. the sheets are preferably formed as disclosed in United States Patent to Charles C. Willis,v No. 1,263,723, dated April 23, 1918.

The two embodiments of my invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment, a portion of the cover being broken away;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section through the embodiment shown in Fig. 1

Fig. 3 is a perspective View of the other embodiment, a portion of the cover being broken away; and

Fig.` Llis a longitudinal section through the' embodiment shown in Fig. 3.

The particular form of thc invention illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 comprises a series of sheets of absorbent material Asuperposed to form a pad and a casing B wholly inclosing the pad formed bythe superposed sheets of absorbent material.

The sheets A are preferably formed of absorbent paper and the casin is preferably formed of network materia characterized by reticulations having relatively large interstices between the intermeshes, the assential function of the casing being merely to retain the sheets of paper in position. The paper which I prefer to employ is thin and soft and is made of wood pulp with the fiber extending predominantly ina certain direction. Each sheet of paper may be provided with a plurality of perfor-ations as disclosed in the aforesaid application and when so provided the perforations are preferably formed transversely of the predominant direction of the fibers.

The embodiment shown in Figs. 3 and 1 comprises a reticular casing D similar to casing B in Figs. 1 and 2 and within the casing D is a mass of scraps E of absorbent paper or. similar bibulous material. The scraps are spread into the form of a flat pad and'retained in this position by means cf the casing.

Each of the embodiments of my improved dressing forms a soft and yielding pad of high absorption power which may be quickly and cheaply constructed. Where a loose and open pad is desired the form shown in Figs. 3 and 4 is preferable whereas the pad shown in Figs. 1 and 2 forms a more compact and smooth dressing.

I claim:

A surgical dressing comprising a plurality of layers of bibulous paper, each having a plurality of slit-like perforations disributed therein, and a reticular cover there- Signed by me at Framingham, Massachusetts, this ninth day of January, 1918.

IRENE REID. 

